Unlike a year ago, they don't have a Heisman candidate to prepare for, but that hasn't stopped them from treating it similarly.

Kyle Orton was having a dream season when undefeated Purdue rolled into Beaver Stadium last season, when America had every reason to believe he was the best quarterback in the country at the time.

His numbers said that he was, practically leading the nation in every significant passing category. Up until that point, he hadn't thrown an interception and the season was already into October.

To his credit, Purdue did win the game, though it wasn't easy and it was much closer than most expected, with a 20-13 victory after a late Anthony Morelli Hail Mary pass fell innocently to the turf.

Orton ended up throwing his first and second interceptions of the season to Calvin Lowry and Anwar Phillips in the fourth quarter, both virtually canceled out by Penn State's secondary rendering a couple big passing plays downfield.

And still, holding the No. 1 offense in the conference at the time to 20 points opened up some eyes about how good the Nittany Lions defense was.

If the Lions had any stability on offense, it would have been the upset of the season to date.

Now the playbooks have turned, and it's Penn State offense that is electric, spreading defenses out, firing at will.

And now Purdue has issues at the quarterback position, replacing its starter, Brandon Kirsch, for a redshirt freshman that threw three interceptions a week ago in what was supposed to be a relief effort.

The Boilermakers still run the same offense, the variety of which keeps defenses on the field much longer than they'd like to by moving strategically down the field, something the Lions say they are prepared for.

The Lions, sensing a lack of depth across the defensive line, have made some adjustments to combat the shortages.

Paterno moved offensive lineman A.Q. Shipley to defensive tackle against Illinois, mixing him in regularly amongst the starters.

He recorded his first career sack against the Illini.

"He did a great job," defensive end Matthew Rice said about Shipley's performance.

"That's a hard position that he was put in. It's not easy moving from offense to defense, it's two different speeds you play at."

The second alteration moved former defensive tackle Jim Shaw to defensive end to help out redshirt freshman Josh Gaines when starters Rice and Tamba Hali need breathers.

Paterno hasn't quite bought into the fact that Purdue is as bad as advertised.

He even said they are better than Penn State was this time last season because it has more playmakers at the skilled positions.

He said their depth at wide receiver caused him to believe they were not that far off.

He's hoping that talent doesn't materialize while they're in Happy Valley this weekend.

"Things are going to come together for Purdue," Paterno said. "Hopefully, a week from this Saturday though, [and] not this Saturday."